There is no quick fix to the island's major solid waste management issues, there are however relatively simple measures government can take to almost immediately reduce the amount of waste produced. One such measure would be to ban plastic bags and promote the use of environmentally friendly alternatives preferably reusable (cloth) bags or bags made from entirely biodegradable material.
As is the case with all forms of plastics, plastic bags do not biodegrade or rot, but rather photo-degrade. Depending on their make-up it is estimated that this process can take decades and in most cases centuries. Photo-degradation is the process whereby plastics breakup into smaller and smaller often toxic pieces which contaminate soil, ground water or oceans.
Everyday thousands of single use plastic shopping bags end up in St. Maarten's landfill, along our roads, in natural and manmade waterways or enter our coastal and marine environment.
On land plastic bags contribute to visual pollution and are often seen along streets, wrapped up in trees or drifting through the air. Besides being unsightly, these bags and other plastics clog our drainage systems and thereby contribute to flooding in times of heavy rain. Plastic bags are particularly harmful in the marine environment, where animals including birds, marine-mammals and turtles mistake them for food and swallow them, almost certainly leading to a slow and painful death.
St. Maarten's environment has suffered the consequences of plastic bags usage, simply because of their perceived cost convenience, for too long. The Foundations commend the many individuals and the handful of businesses who have taken it upon themselves to stop using or providing single use plastic bags, the reality of the matter is however that many stores will continue to provide these bags and consumers will continue to use them unless legally restricted from doing so.
It is therefore high time for our parliamentarians and ministers to take initiative as the people's representatives and show that they are the caretakers of the environment by passing legislation to ban disposable plastic carryout bags. Drafting and passing this legislation should not take too long as there are dozens of examples of similar laws online, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and there is no time to waste.
